Sugar-cane cutter



M. WERTHEIM.

SUGAR CANE CUTTER. APPLICATION FILED ocT 1. 1919.

1,392,377. Patented Oct. 4, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

flbtomm I 77w 451 WM M. WERTHEIM.

SUGAR CANE CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 1, I919. 1,392,377. Patented 00a 4, 1921.

v 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

35131911) abtozmm r I UNITEDI-STATES PATENTIOFFICEQ M X- ERTHEIM, orrrnrnmimnrrznune, NATA'L, SOUTH AFRICA.

SUGAR-CANE ou'r'rnn.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Patentedloet. 4, 1921.

Application filed October 1, 1919. Serial No. 327,815.

To all whom it may concern: I Y

Be 1t known that I, MAX WERTHEIM, a sub-v ject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Pietermaritzburg, in they Province of Natal, South Africa, have invented certain new and useful Improve-- ments in Sugar-Cane Cutters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus for cutting came, the object of the invention being to provide an apparatus of this character whereby the cane is felled and topped ready for the grinding mill, so that it willno longer be necessary to perform these operations by hand.

' A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of the character set forth,

which machine is provided with a horizontally operating cutting knife which can be canes are'evenly presented to the top-cutting I knife. 30

With the foregoingfandother objects in view, allof which. will. appear as the de-- scription proceeds, 'the'invention consists in the novel features of construction and combination of parts which will be more fully set forth hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification, 7.

Figure'l' is a side elevation, partly broken away, of a machine constructed in accordanoe with thej'present invention;

F ig. 2 is' a transverse sectional viewtaken approximately onthe line 2-2 ofFigfll;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the machine;

Figs. 4- and- 5' are transverse sectional views,- on asmaller. scale, illustrating d1fler-- ent positions of the canetransferring member'oroarr'ier; and I I Fig. 6 is a detail side view of knife.

the topping The same characters of reference "desig parts in the different figures nate the same ofthe drawings.

Zi -he --apparatus herein illustrated: com

prises a frame or truck formed of a pair of U beams 2 secured by means of eye bolts 3 to an axle 4, on theopposite ends of which are mounteda pair of road wheels-5. On the upper side of, the beams or girders 2 are mounted and secured by means of bolts, two

pair of wooden beams or timbers 6, the members' of each pair being spaced from each other approximately at the center of the machine to permit a trough 8 to be supported between the ends of such timbers, the bottom of the trough being secured to the axle means of eye-bolts 7. This trough 8 extendsvertically above the beams to a suitable height and has attached thereto a superstructure 9, preferably formed of interwoven wire secured to a frame made of piping. As clearly shown invFig. 1, the sidesof this superstructure are inclined with relatlon to theside walls of the trough 8,

so that it is wider at the top than the distance between the side walls of said trough.

For permitting the apparatus to be ad'- justed vertically, I have illustrated herein two pairs of wheels 10 and 11, respectively, one pairat each end of the apparatus. Each of these wheels 10 andll is mounted for rotation on a stud axle secured to an upright member or rod 12which is slidable in a bracket secured to opposite ends of the frame. The ro ds 12 carrying the wheels 10 are shown in F ig. l passing throughtwo small brackets 13, while the rods carrying the wheels 11 are illustrated passing through a wider bracket 14. 'All'of the rods 12 are secured in any adjusted position in the brackets by means of set screws 15. It will thus be seen that either end of the-apparatus may be raised with relation to the opposite end.

by adjusting .the rods 12in the brackets 13 and 14.. It will,,of course, be obvious that if'desired, the road wheels 5 may be dis pensed with entirelyand the-wheel's 10 and 11 relied upon to support the apparatus when traveling from one place to another. The trough ;8 is provided in. each ,of its .side walls with avertical slot16 and a'hori- -zontal slot 17in communication with .each other, and within the" lower part ofthetrough is' mounted an open ended carrier 18,

the side wallsof which are preferably formed partly solid and partly .of inter woven wire,.ais shown clearly. in Fig.2. On. the, inner slde'nof each of thersi'de walls of .ner hereinafter described.

the trough 8.are supported a plurality of rollers 19 for supporting the carrier 18, and which carrier is provided with a pair of trunnions which project through the slots in the side wallsof the trough and have secured thereto outside of said trough a pair of levers 20, each adapted to coeperat'e with a pulley 21 mounted on the outside of each of the side walls'of the trough for swinging the carrier to a vertical position in the man- A vertically slidable rack bar 22 is mounted ina pair of slideways 23 at each side of the trough 8, immediately belowthe vertical slots 16, and the upper ends of the rack bars are formed to act as bearings for the trunnions carried by the carrier 18. Mounted for rotation in the beams 6 are a pair of shafts 24, each provided at one end thereof with a sprocket 25, whereby'motion is transmitted from one shaft to the other by means of a crossed ating the apparatus.

chain 26 engaging said sprockets, so that,

on the rotation of one of saidv shafts, the other will rotate in the opposite direction. Each of. the shafts 24 has secured thereto a One of the shafts 24is provided with a crank handle 28 for. manually rotating the shaft.

The operationof the carrier will be described in connection with the operation of pair of cross beams 29 are secured between the beams'6 at one end of the apparatus, and these cross beams support an engine illustrated diagrammatically at 30 for oper- Power is transmitted from the engine by means of a pulley. 31 and belt 32 to acountershaft 33, which is supportedin bearings secured to the upper side of the beams 6. This countershaft car.-

' ries at eachend thereof a pair of clutch I when the engine is running. On the upper members, which are-shown herein only diagrammatlcally at 34 for transmitting the motion of the shaft to a flexible shaft 35 at each end of the'shaft 83. At the-opposite "end ofone of the shafts 35 is carried a ro-.

The bearings for said knife in the casing 37' arev preferably ball-bearings, and the knife is tary knife 36 mounted ina casing 87.

adapted to berotated from the fle xible shaft side oft-he casing 37 are mounted two pair of handles 38for manually guiding the knife in itsr'movement. At the free end' of the flexible" shaft at the opposite endof the *countershaft 33,. is carried a similar houspose'a shaft 41, Fig 3,is secured to one or.

theside'wal-ls of the trouglif 8 and'lf exte'nds ing 39 .in which is, also mountedfor rotation bythe'fiexibl'e shaft 3 5 a knife 40.

This knife-, however, is intended for opera-' tion in'a'. vertical plane, and for that-purtransverselylto" a suitable distance from-the apparatus, -and the housing 39 is'provided with a journal bearing 42 that pivots around said shaft 41 The housing 39 is also provided with a handle 43 pivotally secured thereon and having at its lower end a crank 44, by means of which handle the knife may be swung into and out of position for use and pressure exerted on the handle while the knife is in use for cutting off the tops of the sugar canes.

The operation of; the machine is as follows: The machine is draw-n by any suitable power to the-side of the cane field from which the cane is to becut, the side of the machine carrying the knife 36 being toward cientcane is felled to fill thetrough 8; The if cane which is felled will either fall'over into falling toward the machine will bedirected into the trough, The canes which have. fallen or been placed in the trough will thus' be lying in the carrier 18, with their tops all at the side of the machine farthest from the knife 36.. As soon as all; the canes from the stool have been cut and placed in theucarrier,they are fastened therein-by'means' of chains or ropes, not shown. "An operator then grasps the handle28 and rotates the,

shafts 24, whereupon the. pinions 27 engage.

the'rack bars 22, the upper ends of which are at this time in engagement with the tru'n nlons carried by the carr1er18, as shown "in Fig. 2,'whereby'the ascent of the rack bars. i

will move thev carrier upward, the carrier being guided in its upward movement by. the trunnions projecting through the slotsi 16 in the sides of the trough. During the up-Z ward movement of the carrier, the levers -20 secured to the trunnions engage the-.pul-

leys 21, as shown in dotted lines" in'Fig. 4, the carrier being thereby'gradually' swung on the upper end of the rack bars so that when the trunnions arrive'at the top of the slots 16, the carrier will be in the-vertical position shown in full lines in Fig. 4,'where by the tops of the canes will bein contact with-thebottom'of the trough 8, in which position the weight .of'the-"caneswill cause them to settle down so that the tops will be practically all on thesame level horizontightened so as to secure them in this pos'i i tally? Theichains or ropes may then be tion." The handle as is th'en-"operated so as i f to rotate the shafts 24: fin the 'OpPOSitefflireCf tion from that above'described, whereupon- "therack'bars will descend and thus return the carrier'to return to its normal position as shown in'Fig. [2, the operationof the handle being continued until the rack bars have entirely released the trunnion of the carrier, as shown for instance in Fig. 5, so

that the carrier now rests on the rollers 19.'

The carrier is then pushed toward the knife 40 until the tops of the canes are at the proper point below said knife to be cut oil? from the cane, whereupon the engine is again set in motion, thereby rotating the knife 40' and the knife is swung by means of the handle 43 into the proper position to contact with the canes in the carrier, and by exerting pressure on the crank 44 of the handle 43 while the knife is rotating, all the tops of the canes in the carrier will be cut off. This operation is called the topping of the canes. After this is accomplished, two operators may take hold of the levers 20, after having swung the knife 40 on the shaft 41 out of the way, and swing the can rier on its trunnion to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5, whereupon the chains or ropes may be released and the cane will fall out of the carrier ready to be taken to the grinding mill. v

It will be understood, of course, that the raising of the carrier may be accomplished by transmitting power from the engine, instead of by hand as herein described, if desired, and that the motion may be transmitted from one of the shafts 24 to the other by means of gearing instead of chain and sprockets, and while I have described in detail these features and the otherfeatures of construction herein illustrated, it is to be understood that I do not thereby'limit my invention to the specific structure herein illustrated, as I am aware thatmany mechanical changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set or forth in the claims appended hereto.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a machine of the character described,

" the combination of a vehicle, a trough mounted on said vehicle, a horizontally disposed rotary knife at one end of said trough, a vertically disposed rotary knife at the opposite end of the trough, means carried by said vehicle for rotating said knives, avertically movable carrierjwithin said trough, and means for partially rotating said carrier during its vertical movement.

' 2. In a machine of the character described,

the combination of V a vehicle, a trough mounted on said vehicle, a horizontally disposed rotary knife at one end of said trough,

a vertically disposed rotary knife. at the op-' posite end of the trough, means carried by said vehicle for rotating-said knives, a carrier within the trough and provided at each side'thereof with a trunnion, a pair of guides s'ecuredto each side of said trough, a verti- V cally movable rack bar carried by said guides in position to engage each of saidtrunnions, and means for operating said rack bars thereby to raise said carrier. 1

3, In a machine of thecharacter described, the combination of a vehicle, a trough mountedon said vehicle, a horizontally dis posed rotary knife at one end of said trough, a vertically disposed rotary knife at the opposite end of the trough, meanscarried by said vehicle for rotating said knives, a carrier within the trough and provided at each side thereof witha trunnion, a'pair of guidessecured to each side of said trough, a vertically movable rack bar carried by said guides in position to engage each of said trunnions, means for operating said rack bar thereby to raise said carrier, and means for partially rotating said carrier during its upward movement.

4. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a vehicle, a trough posed rotary knife at one end of said trough,

a vertically disposed rotary knife at the op- V posite end of the trough, means carried by said vehicle for rotating said knives, a carrier within the trough and provided at each side thereof with a trunnion, a pair of guides secured to each side of said trough,

a vertically movable rack bar carried by said guides in position to engage each of said trunnions, means for operating said rack bars thereby to raise said carrier'and means for partially rotating said carrier Y during its upward movement, said means comprising an arm secured to each of said trunnions and a trip member carried by said trough in the path of said arm.

5. Inxamachine of the character described, the combination of a vehicle, a trough mounted on said vehicle, means at one end of said trough for felling cane, means at the opposite end of the trough for topping the cane, means carried by the vehicle for operating said felling and topping means, and a carrier within said trough and movable vertically and t'ransverselywith respect to the trough and means for imparting movement to said carrier.

6. In a machine of the characterdescribed, the combination of a vehicle, a trough mounted on said vehicle, means at one end of said trough for felling cane, means at the opposite end of the trough for topping the cane, means carried by the vehicle for operating said felling and topping means, a carrier within said trough and movable vertically and transversely with respect to the trough, means forimparting movement to said carrier and means for partially rotating said carrier during its vertical movement.

the combination of a vehicle, a trough pair of slidable rack bars for moving said mounted on said vehicle, means at. one end carrier vertically, a pair of shafts carrying of said trough for felling cane, means at pinions in engagement With saidbars, and 10 the oppositeend of thetrough for topping means for rotating said shafts in opposite the cane, a carrier within said trough for directions. I receiving the felled cane and deliveringit I V i vto the topping means, means including a M. WERTHEIM. 

